Welding rod



C. C. DAVIS Oct. 13, 1942.

WELDING ROD Filed Dec. 24, 1941 FIIS E INVENTOIR I CQ/r/ CDaws ATTORNEY Patented Octi13, 1942 welding operation.

UNITED STAT-ES PATENT OFFICE azeasaa wnnnmo non Curt 0. mm. Berkeley, Calif. Application December 24, 1941, Serial No. 424,311

2 Claim.

This invention relates to welding rods and is concerned more particularly with the provision of an improved welding rod construction whereby welding rods can be used up entirely during the It is a general object of the invention to'provide a welding rod construction which will eliminate waste of welding rods in welding operations.

Another object of the invention is to provide a welding rodconstruction which enables the attachment of a partly used welding rod to anun-. used welding rod for use as a unit therewith for welding operations.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved welding rod construction of the character referred to which is simple and convenient to use and which can be manufactured economically.

Other objects and advantages of. the invention will be apparent from the following description of certain preferred embodiments thereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which:

' Figure l is an elevational view of one form of the invention showing a partly used welding rod connected to an unused welding rod;

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken as indicated by the line 2-2 in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a sectional view through the Joint between the two welding rods, as indicated by the line 3-3 in Figure 1;

- Figure 4 is an elevational view-of a coupling device or clip whereby two welding rods can be connected together;

Figure 5 is an'elevational view, partly in section, of a modified form of joint for connecting two welding rods.

Welding rods of conventional construction as now employed for both electric-and gas welding commonly consist of a' metal rod or core similar to .the metal parts being welded together, which is coated with a suitable material or fiux. One end of the metallic core is bare for insertion in a holding socket of the welding equipment. In welding operation, conventional welding rods are commonly used until a major portion of their length is consumed, the remaining fractional .portion being discarded because it is too short for further use. As a result, a substantial loss occurs because of the wasted portions of the welding rods. Various attempts have been made to enable complete use of welding rods, such as, for example, by welding two fractional portions not result in a welding rod which can be used throughout its entire length for most welding operations because at the welded joint there will be no further coating available for sub-- to a fresh'welding rod while providing the re-' quired coating -atthe joint so that the entire length ofevery-welding rod is available for welding operations.

Referring to Figures 1 to 3, one preferred form of the invention is shown in which a welding rod in is shown attached to a section Illa of a partly used welding rod. The welding rod 10 comprises a metallic core II and a covering layer or coating I 2 of suitable material. One end l3 of the core I I is left bare of the coating, while the other end I is formed as a socket extensionwith the recess therein formed complementarily to the end II. In this way the similar end I3a of the second welding rod Illa can be snugly fitted into socket end 14 in metal-to-metal contact therewith to provide a good electrical connection. The coating I2 is extended over and around the extension I 4 so as to provide a continuous supply of the coating material along the joint which is formed by the mating parts of connected welding rods. As seen in Figure 3, the socket end I4 may be split so as to grip the adjacent end Ila of the associated welding rod and provide a good surface-to-surface engagement between the parts. If desired, the inner diameter of extension I may be slightly less than the diameter of the end I3 so that the resilience of the split end is utilized to insure a good gripping action.

The socket end I4 may be made at the end of a cylindrical rod by suitably forming such end to provide a flat sheet-like portion, which is then formed around a mandrel to the desired curvature to provide a recess to receive the portion lid 0: the connected welding rod Illa in snug fashion.

Figure 4 illustrates a modified form of connecting means for two adjacent welding rods wherein a metallic clip or coupling element It is of rods together. However, this practice does are similar in construction to the socket end H shown in Figure l. The metal of the coupling element shouldbe .the same as that of the rods. The coupling element preferably comprises a length or split tubing having its exterior sur face covered with a coating it. Adjacent the central portion of coupling 56 a pair of inwardly bent ears it may be provided to form stops for ends it of two welding rods. For use with the coupling it a welding rod similar to the rod iii would be provided with similar bare ends it. The arrangement shown in Figure 4 provides a jointed welding rod assembly including axially aligned welding rod sections which may be of substantially uniform cross section throughout their lengths so that the sections may be produced economically without any machining operations being required for efiecting joints. The sleeve it embraces the adjacent end portions of the rods in metal-to-metal contact therewith, so that the conductivity of the assembly is substantially unimpaired by the Joint between adjacent rod sections. If desired, the type of socket connection shownin Figure 1 could be formed by.

spot-welding or otherwise securing a coupling element it to a length of. rod. This would preferably be efiected before application of the coating. Figure 5 shows another modified construction in which the core rod 20 of the welding rod is provided with a tapered socket 22 to receive the complementarily tapered end 23 of another welding rod. The socket end 22 may be formed by a dieswedging operation or by the combina= tion of a drilling and die swedging operation.

It will be noted that in each of the welding rod constructions illustrated herein, provision is made for the connection or two welding rods in a fashion to provide a substantially continu therewith, a flux coating on the outside of said sleeve, and fiu'n coatings on substantially the whole of said rod sections with the exception 0! the end porticns thereof embraced by and in metal-to-metal contact'with said sleeve whereby the conductivity of the assembly is substantially unimpaired by the joint between adjacent rod sections and flux is available for promoting welding throughout the length or the assembly.

2. In a jointed welding rod assembly a pair of axially aligned metallic welding rod sections, a very thin metallic coupling sleeve embracing the .adjacent end portions of said rod sections and being in metal-to-metal contact therewith, a flux coating on the outside of said sleeve, and flux coatings on substantially the whole of said rod sections with the exception of the end portions thereof embraced by and in metal-to-metal contact with said sleeve whereby the conductivity of the assembly is substantially unimpaired by the joint'between adjacent rod sections and flux is available for promoting welding throughout the length of the assembly.

CURTC'. DAVIS. 

